Toki Daishirō

Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (Japanese, 1839–1892)

Date2nd month 1865

Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineAlexander H. Bullock Fund

Terms

Object number2002.60

DescriptionThe sixteenth-century warrior Toki Daishirō tested his bravery by spending a night in a haunted temple, where statues possessed by supernatural forces attacked him. Dancing skeletons frolic in the background as Daishirō locks ankles with an apparition in the form of a Buddhist guardian figure, or Niō. The macabre Buddha with a leering face in its stomach, together with the lavish interior, has been interpreted as a criticism of the corrupt Buddhist institutional system. Towards the end of the Edo period (1603–1868) Buddhism was increasingly vilified as a vessel of continental (Chinese) values, during a contemporary movement to champion native Japanese cultural elements.
Label TextThe sixteenth-century warrior Toki Daishirō tested his bravery by spending a night in a haunted temple, where statues possessed by supernatural forces attacked him. Dancing skeletons frolic in the background as Daishirō locks ankles with an apparition in the form of a Buddhist guardian figure, or Niō. The macabre Buddha with a leering face in its stomach, together with the lavish interior, has been interpreted as a criticism of the corrupt Buddhist institutional system. Towards the end of the Edo period (1603–1868) Buddhism was increasingly vilified as a vessel of continental (Chinese) values, during a contemporary movement to champion native Japanese cultural elements.ProvenanceKatie and Scott McDonald, Rochester, NY

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